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Unbeautiful Savior

March 28, 2017 - by dbrindle

At first glance, I was viscerally repulsed by the above painting. It was the eyes in particular, and the mouth, both of the same shade of red. Eyes shouldn’t be that red. It was hideous. The feeling of revulsion reminded me of when—as a child—I turned the page of an illustrated fairy tale to be confronted by the image of a ghoulish sorceress: I remember immediately slamming the book shut and with such instinctive vehemence that the book caught and pinched me hard.

He was despised and rejected by men;a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;and as one from whom men hide their faceshe was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isa 53:3)

I remember as a novice sitting in the sanctuary of St. Gertrude’s in Madeira, Ohio, and hearing my novice master preaching: “Jesus Christ is the most beautiful thing that ever happened in the universe.” I hadn’t spent much time considering Jesus as a beautiful thing, but the truth of the statement caught me up. Of course he is. How could he not be?

I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon…and like choice myrrh I spread a pleasant odor…my branches are glorious and graceful.Like a vine I caused loveliness to bud. (Sir 24:13–17)

And this Beauty is personally interested in me.

“Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us … He has loved us all with a human heart” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 478).

The Incarnation is entirely for us and individually so. Jesus Christ speaks wholeheartedly to all as if each man, woman, or child were the only human being:

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Br. Jonah Teller is from Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied literature at the University of Dallas. Prior to entering the Order of Preachers in 2013, he held a variety of jobs, including work as a short order cook, oil field worker, and a teacher. On DominicanFriars.org